The Hunter and the Hunted
by keisan
Summary: There's something out there. The forest is silent, the birds have gone, and an ominous feeling is growing in him. What horrors lie in hiding?


_The Hunter and the Hunted_

_By keisan_

_Disclaimer & author note: I do not own Hetalia, nor do I own the beautiful picture on tumblr that inspired this—see my profile for the link. Enjoy, lovelies._

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The birds are chirping happily away in the early morning sunlight. Suddenly everything goes quiet. China, who was propped comfortably on his round window sill, puts his instrument down and gazes at the tiny blue-green bird that landed on his fingers. The animals trust him because he is part of the land, he's been there for thousands of years -and they know him. The wind soon begins to blow and it feels cold.

The sound of a twig snapping catches the seemingly young man's keen ear and his eyes flick towards it. The bird quickly flies away and China nods encouragingly. He slides off the window sill and quietly leaps over his balcony. He knows he is the one being hunted here but this is still his territory and he knows it well.

China runs swiftly down the mountainous terrain, ducking around bushes and swinging from tall trees in order to muffle his noise as much as possible. The shady trees and darkening clouds seem to make his forest more ominous than before, but China still persists. He has to know what or who was traipsing across his land scaring off the wildlife.

China comes to a clearing and pauses; the clouds above leave only speckles of sunlight peaking through the dark rain clouds over head. His ears perk up and he listens, eyes close and breath silent. Another branch snaps, this time much closer. Brown eyes flash open and narrow toward the sound. He sees nothing, yet. He ducks behind a wide tree trunk and creeps silently toward the noise.

A rustle forces him out of hiding and China sprints toward the noise. Nothing. He looks around and sees a couple of broken tree branches. They are all quite thick and not something a human could easily break on his or her own. China picks up the branches and examines them, they look like they were crushed and the severed pieces were in splinters. He frowns and puts down the brush. China closes his eyes and slows his breathing, he will find out who was here if it is the last thing he does.

Everything is dark, but the air moves slowly around him as the wind has calmed and the forest smells damp and humid. An ominous feeling fills him suddenly and there is someone breathing over his left shoulder. China ignores the fear churning in his stomach, centres himself, and jumps to the ground swinging his legs behind him to trip his opponent. He glances back quickly through his fringe to see pale grey hair and a pair of slightly crazed violet eyes. He pushes his elbow into the other man's gut and feels a burst of pride as a gasp is let out. When a pair of thick arms come around to trap him, China grabs the man's right wrist and twists his arm behind his back pushing his opponent face first into the ground.

A small giggle comes from the other man distracting China. His opponent quickly moves around and up and pulls China over his shoulder, trapping his arms behind his back.

"Little China is so fun to play with!" cries out a child-like voice.

"Russia! What are you doing here? I told you I wanted to be left alone. Your boss and mine aren't getting along, aru. Please let me go and then leave at once!" China protests, covering up his relief.

"But it is not fun without China. You will come and visit me at my home now, da?"

China sighs. "Were you even listening, aru?"

"Da! But it happens, strangely enough, that I don't care what my boss thinks! Or yours for that matter!" Russia cheers. He picks the smaller man up off the ground and wipes away the dirt from his cheek.

China feels a warm affection settle in his stomach at the gesture and words of his neighbour. History has that kind of effect. China tries to look at the other man sternly when he chastises him, but a little smile always takes over. Despite Russia's mercurial personality, China cares deeply for him and doesn't mind putting up with his mood swings and childish antics. China isn't perfect himself, he reasons, so how can he really judge the other nation?

China sighs and pushes back a few errant strands of pale hair from Russia's bright eyes. He stands on tip-toes and plants a small kiss on the man's chin. Before he can move too far away, Russia sweeps him up into his thick arms and presses his lips to the Asian's, catching him in a passionate, domineering kiss.

"China will come, da?" Russia says in a husky voice as he puts the smaller man down. China's cheeks are red now and he bites his lip to hide his smile. The sound of rain breaks the spell and China shakes his head.

"At least come inside. I have to close the windows."

Russia gives him a giddy grin and allows the smaller nation to lead him to his home. Maybe they can stay at China's house for a couple of days, hopefully by then Belarus will have decided to leave Russia's and he can have China all to himself.

_fin._

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_Reviews are love. xoxo_


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